By Peter Mathews – July 14, 2009

“The Yankee Years” by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci
Doubleday. 482 pages.

Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci’s book with Joe Torre is a self-serving, second-guessing attempt at slanting the record straight for what Torre might describe as a very successful eleven year reign as Yankee manager. Unfortunately, there were other witnesses to Torre’s stint as Yankee manager. He had been claimed off the scrap heap by George Steinbrenner, after failed managing attempts with the Mets, Cards and Braves. He was, at the time, a “retread,” one of the many professional baseball men recirculated into major league jobs, because of experience and stability. He was dubbed “Clueless Joe” on the back pages the day he was signed and continues as out-of-touch about his years with the Yankees throughout his book.

As an Angels colorman and native New Yorker, Torre may have had a leg up with the big, bad New York media. In his book, Torre takes credit for ten straight years of playoffs, six AL pennants and four World Series. He also takes credit for Bigelow Tea commercials, Billy Crystal, Rudy Giuliani, his wife Ali, and his charity work. It wasn’t his idea to get rid of Bernie Williams or sign the free agent busts Brian Cashman gave him. He seemed to know that A-Rod was as inferior a human being as Derek Jeter was superior, far before anyone. He doesn’t really come out and say that he never made a mistake as Yankee manager, but his biggest regret was not pulling the team from the field in Cleveland during the famous “Midge” incident.

The truth is Joe Torre was a ‘do nothing’ kind of manager. He always sat on the bench, cradling Derek Jeter’s bat, waiting for someone to get the big hit. He didn’t like to bunt. He didn’t like to manufacture runs when things were going slow. His strength was to let the players that Cashman gave him do their jobs and then “handle” the clubhouse (by leaving players alone) and then talk to the press. Torre thinks he lost his control because he was portrayed as taking too much credit for the Yankee successes at the expense of Steinbrenner. He actually saved “taking too much credit” for his book.

In the book, he takes his shots at Roger Clemens, Kevin Brown, David Wells, Jason Giambi and A-Rod. All were timely targets at the time of publication. Thank goodness he shared Clemens’ pre-game routine with us, including the application of red-hot liniment on Roger’s testicles by a Yankee trainer. Hopefully, he at least wore gloves.

Torre took off his gloves whenever he could get in a shot against the Yankee front office of Cashman (backstabber), Felix Lopez (former landscaper), Steve Swindal (fallen heir), Lonn Trost (numbers guy), Randy Levine (“shut the f— up, Randy) and Steinbrenner sons, Hal and Hank. Hal takes most of the shots as Torre recounts commentary. Hank, the one you’d think would have his foot in his mouth, remains in the background. But as far as Steinbrenners go, Torre reserves most of his comments for ‘The Boss,’ George, to tell us about his failing health and loss of faculties, a subject matter the family and business took great pains to protect from the ever-present public eye. Stay classy, Joe Torre.

We are led to believe in 482 pages, that Joe Torre didn’t deserve what he got from the Yankees. Winning with the largest payroll and failing for seven straight years were not reason enough to end his tenure. He blames the competitive changes in market size of the game, paranoidic accusations about the front office, YES Network reporter’s questions, and failure to win without favorites like Bernie Williams, Tino Martinez, Paul O’Neill, David Cone and Scott Brosius. He talks about “the heartbeat of the game,” but according to Torre, it was always a catalyst, a heroic Yankee player, or himself that delivered the goods.

There’s a curious section toward the end of the book, probably an attempt at padding by Verducci, that goes on about “Moneyball” and the new-age general managers Billy Beane, Theo Epstein and especially Cleveland’s Mark Shapiro. Probably as a backhanded attack at Cashman, somehow Verducci and Torre want us to believe that Shapiro’s proprietary baseball software “DiamondView” is the genius move of baseball. That while Cashman spends millions on the Igawas and Pavlanos, Shapiro spends $10,000 on Fausto Carmona and has fashioned a new power in the American League. Currently, the Indians are locked at the bottom of the AL Central and out of the 2009 pennant race at All Star break and Carmona is laboring in the minors trying to regain his stuff.

But it’s Torre who has the last laugh. He’s the skipper of the best team in baseball, even though the NL West is as weak as it gets. No one in the Yankee Cabinet will admit it, but Torre’s ascension with the glamorous Los Angeles Dodgers adds another weight to the burden of delivering a title to the Bronx in 2009. Maybe he can write another book about it.